April 04, 2007

Every now and then, I'm going to feel compelled to make an extraneous post that has nothing to do with anything. I promise these posts won't interfere with my regular Tuesday/Friday sketch posts...

Okay, so the the 2008 Olympics are going to take place in Beijing. Anyone who knows me knows that sports are the last thing in the world that I care about. I mean, I like watching martial arts, archery, boxing, wrestling, and fencing, but that's all stuff that can be used for ass-kicking, so it's cool.

I'm straying from my point here--what caught my attention is that apparently the mascots for the 2008 Summer Games are THE BEST MASCOTS EVER:

click above for larger view

While not a fan of sports, I am a fan of awesome character design, and these little dudes (and dudettes) definitely fit the bill in that category. As a broad generalization, I would say that most mascots are designed in a manner that is technically competent but super bland. However, these "Fuwa" (as they are collectively called) combine sharp, modern design, with select traditional cultural elements, to create a striking and unique feel. The Fuwa could easily pass for characters from Wind Waker--a video game with art direction that was under-appreciated and ahead of its time.

But wait, there's more--if you take a look at the official site, on the right-hand side there are icons of the Fuwa pertaining to each event of the Olympics! I thought these were really cute, so I saved them and posted some on my friends' Myspace pages where relevant--basketball for Vinny, swimming for Annie, etcetera. But then, a genius idea sprang into my head... Revised Caption + Photoshop = HILARIOUS REMIX!

While I had run out of friends to send fitting remixes to, I had not run out of hi-larious captions and a desire to procrastinate and absolutely ensure that I never accomplish anything productive ever, and so, more were born:

Last but not least, my personal favorite (a gold star to anyone who knows the quote):

In case anyone is interested, the original Chinese text is intact on all images except for "Dual Wield" and "PWNED."

I realize probably no one finds this obscure crap as funny as I do, but nonetheless, enjoy, send 'em to your friends, and make your own, if you feel the holy spirit compelling you to. In fact, if you do make your own, post them in the comments!

For more on the Fuwa (and believe me, you want to know more--the red one is basically a fire elemental):